


screaming through the night, forest fire

by annaregina



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, I finished the series yesterday and I haven't been able to stop thinking about this scene, My First Work in This Fandom, My first Zutara fic!!!!, So here's my take, zuko dies momentarily but katara saves him, zutara kiss!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24762151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annaregina/pseuds/annaregina
Summary: "I'll show you lightning.""ZUKO!"And howWas I to knowI’m not strongI should have saved youOh, I hope you knowThat you’re my homeBut now I’m lost
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 110





	screaming through the night, forest fire

_When you were young you used to dream about fire,_  
_And scream into the night,_  
_To find me standing barefoot at your side_

“Zuko?” she whispers, her voice trembling as she hauls him into her lap, cradling his head in her arms tenderly. “Zuko, _please_.”

His eyes flutter open underneath the tendrils of hair across his face, the muscles in his throat straining against the spasms of electricity still wracking his body. “Katara.”

Her sobs break like a storm crashing against the shore as she curls over him protectively. Grief swirling around her, Katara bends all the water from the grates, from the ice she’d used to defend herself just before, her blood pounding in her ears.

“Katara, it’s okay,” Zuko whispers, gazing up at her. He lifts his shaking hand to cup her cheek and manages a tight smile.

Her tears slide down her cheeks silently. They both know it took the spirit water and so much luck to save Aang from Azula’a lightning. All she has now is the murky water from the underground waterways. It won’t be enough.

_I used to whisper it’ll be alright ___  
_And lay down at your side ___  
_And take your tiny hands into mind ___

“ _No_ ,” she cries, tightening her grip on him as she leans down, gritting her teeth. “No, it’s not. You fool, Zuko, you should’ve let her hit me, you should’ve finished it.” Her voice shakes more and more, her breathing coming out in raspy, desperate rattles. “I should never have ran out, you didn’t have to do this for _me_.”

_And how was I to know_

“I did,” Zuko replies quietly, his words muffled by her hair that hangs down around their faces, reducing the world down to just the space between their lips and her arms around his broken body. “Always for you.”

_I’m not strong_

Another jolt of lightning ripples through him, contorting the muscles of his face into a grimace. Katara feels her never ending tears dripping off her chin and soaking the fabric of his burned tunic. It’s not the full moon, but she can feel the water in their bodies: her own his moving rhythmically, fast but steady; his is slowing with every painful breath he takes. Her tears seem to pool in his injury but he makes no complaint, his fingers still tracing the edge of her jaw softly, like the moment in precious.

_I should’ve saved you_

“Don’t go, Zuko,” she begs. She never thought she’d ask it of him and yet here she is, her heart breaking as they wait in the ruins of the palace.

The comet burns low in the sky overhead. The comet may have been giving Azula strength during the duel, but it was also sustaining Zuko now. He knows he has until it leaves the atmosphere at the latest. He closes his eyes, knowing he doesn’t even have that long.

_Oh, I hope you know_

“Say something,” Katara whimpers, brushing his hair back from his eyes. The water stops churning around them, suspended in a million droplets that glow like embers in the light. “Anything.”

_That you’re my home_

“Promise me you won’t blame yourself. I made my choice, Katara,” Zuko whispers. He feels more tears land on his chest and he shivers despite everything.

Her eyes are so full of tears that she can’t see him anymore but she refuses to let go of him to wipe her eyes. She hates the sight of the water in front of her like she’s hated nothing before in her life. All other pain pales in comparison.

_But now I’m lost, so lost_

“Promise me,” he says sharply. “Do it.”

“I promise.” It’s a hollow one. She already knows she will blame herself until the day she dies.

He either buys it or doesn’t have the energy to fight her. It’s definitely the latter. Zuko slowly closes his eyes and curls into her body tiredly. He’s done all he can to make it up to her – like he’s been trying every day since he left the Fire Nation – and he has to hope it’s enough now. He’s reached the end of the road.

_I keep imagining those flames that did rise_  
_And blackened up the sky_  
_The light that showed you barefoot in the snow_

In the darkness inside his head there is peace. Memories of his mother kissing his head, Uncle Iroh pouring him tea, Mai laughing with him in a misty corridor; memories of travelling, always moving, until the world stood still. The prison under Bah Sing Se and _her_ , their duel, the ying and yang of their movements. Katara’s laugh, brushing her hair by the campfire, the hard earned smiles. Her cry of his name as the flickering energy turned every nerve in his body to pure flame. He feels the moment his heart stops beating.

_And then the fire started building up inside_  
_Exploding blinding lights_  
_Now I’m the one left screaming through the night_

Her scream echoes off the steps of the palace, splitting the air just as Azula’s lightning had only minutes before.

_You were my home_

The comet overhead, despite all its fiery energy, is no match for her rage: the droplets around them crystallise into pure ice before exploding back into water, unable to contain her wrath. Every single molecule _glows_ with the healing magic as Katara channels everything she has, every single emotion she holds, down her arms, through her palms and into Zuko’s burned body. Her tears on his chest are incandescent, blinding to look at, brighter than the flames in the bloody sky.

_I’m gonna carry your bones_  
_I’m gonna carry them all_  
_I’m gonna carry you home_

She doesn’t _need_ spirit water. She doesn’t _need_ luck. She will be strong enough herself.

The light engulfs them both and she keeps screaming, squeezing her eyes shut as tightly as she can. She will bring him back through sheer force if she has to. She is the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. She is a bloodbender, a healer, a fighter. She will not lose Zuko now.

Katara holds the magic as long as she can, bending it to her will, manipulating the water with rage and loss and her broken heart, twisting the healing through each seared blood vessel, each individual blistered pathway.

_I’m gonna bury these bones_  
_I’m gonna write it in stone_  
_That you were my home_

It’s only when she stops, forces herself to cut off the energy flow with her lingering sense of self preservation, that she really sees what’s in front of her. The charred flesh of Zuko’s stomach is smooth, save for the star shaped scar where the lightning hit. The muscle and bone is sinewy and strong. Deep in his chest, his heart pumps steadily.

“Zuko?” she breathes tentatively, running her fingers through his chest. What she’s done defies all the laws of nature. She has skirted death once again. What if there are consequences she doesn’t know about?

His eyes open.

Her shoulders shake as she tries to hold back her tears.

“Katara,” he replies, staring up at her in awe.

She is crying too hard to answer, so he pulls himself up gingerly but feels no pain. He kneels in front of her where his unmoving body had been moments earlier. His slender fingers brush her jaw, tilting her head up to face him. He brushes his thumb across her cheek, wiping away her tears.

“Katara,” he says again. Nothing hurts even as his heart pounds wildly against his ribcage. He doesn’t think anything will every hurt again as her eyes open, ocean blue staring at him in disbelief. “You did it.”

And then, just when he doesn’t think anything can get better, her arms are around his neck and her lips are firm against his. She kisses him desperately, furiously, and it’s all he can do to stop himself from toppling over as he wraps his arms around her slender waist and kisses her back.

“Never leave me again,” she mumbles against his mouth as her hands tangle in his already messy hair, gripping tightly. He never wants her to let go.

“Never,” he swears, his own voice breathy. Her heart is beating in time with his where their torsos are pressed up against each other and he can feel the energy thrumming through her the fire of her life, her vitality, her anger, setting him on fire all over again.

She’s trembling as she pulls away and he moves his hands to her cheeks again, cradling her delicately. “You died.”

“I did,” he croaks. “But you brought me back.”

“I don’t know how,” she admits, her voice small and scared. They are only eighteen and on their own.

“I don’t care how,” Zuko replies, laughing slightly. “You’re the greatest water bender in the world. It doesn’t matter how.”

She shivers slightly, her eyes still fixed on his. “Zuko?”

“Yes?”

“I...”

“It’s okay,” he promises. “I know.”

He takes a deep breath before standing. Holding his hand out to her, Zuko smiles warmly. There is all the time in the world to work out what happens next. But they still have each other and that is all that matters to him right now.

She takes his hand and stands too, wrapping one arm around his waist and tucking into his side as they turn and stare at where his sister sits, chained to the grates in the floor and laughing manically. It’s the first time he’s heard her but he doubts she’s stopped since Katara defeated her. Azula never did deal well with losing.

“We should go and wait for the others,” Zuko reminds her quietly.

There is more happening around them than this one battle and the reminder sends chills down Katara’s spine. There are so many more people she could lose today, and she has already cheated death once. She may not be so lucky a second time.

Zuko presses a kiss to the top of her head as he leads her away back towards the palace. The horizon behind them is filled with brilliant lights and the billowing smoke of a burning forest. There is nothing more they can do except hold each other and wait to see who emerges victorious.

_Forget about it_  
_Forget about it_  
_Forget about it_  
_Forget about it_  
_How was I to know_  
_That you’re my home_

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the song Forest Fire by Brighton. Cry with me thanks <3


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